Model Karen Mulder and her daughter Anna
Model Karen Mulder, 38, and her daughter Anna, 4 1/2 months, were spotted arriving home in Paris earlier this week.
You may notice that Anna has a hemangioma next to her right eye. This is a blood vessel growth that occurs in 2-5% of babies – mostly girls, preemies, or twins. They usually occur on the head and neck within the first six weeks of birth, and can grow for about a year. However, in most cases, the mark will be gone by the time a child is grown – in fact, half disappear by age 5, even more by age 9, and the majority will be gone by the time a child reaches their teen years. They do not usually need medical attention – however, in the unlikely case that the hemangioma grows larger than it is and begins to obscure her vision, Anna’s pediatrician may suggest treatment.
Are you familiar with anyone who had a hemangioma as a child? What was the experience like?
Photo by Splash News, splashnews.com, splashnewsonline.com
Tags: Hemangioma, Karen Mulder
- Posted on Mar 20, 07 at 10:24PM
- Permalink
- 34 Comments
March 20th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
I had two cousins–one on each side of my family–that had hemangiomas. I would say both of them went away by the time my cousins were five-years-old. I doubt they can even remember having them.
March 20th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
My daughter has a “strawberry” hemangioma, that looks exactly this, but it is on her lower back. It is not just a splotch, but actually fairly raised and “poofy”. I also have/had one on the back of my thigh that grew until I was in my teen years, and then it started to fade. At one point it was the diameter of an orange, and was almost magenta in color. You can’t really see it anymore unless you look hard, but the tissues of that area is a different consistency than of that in the rest of my thigh. My grandmother also had one, as well as her aunt. Nobody else in my extended family has one though.
March 20th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
My niece has one on her backside, just to the left of her butt. She was a preemie – born six weeks early and weighing only 3lbs 10 oz. She is now almost 18 months old. I think it is now about three-fourths the size of the one in this picture. It’s slowly starting to get smaller.
March 20th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
My full-term daughter had one on her lower back. It started to go away when she was about 3 years old and now that she’s 6 it’s pretty much all gone.
March 21st, 2007 at 12:07 am
A friend of mine has a daughter who has one on her face. The upper cheek area. I haven’t seen her in about a year but the last I saw it was about a little bigger than the size of a quarter, raised, poofy and magenta with a little red and blue in spots. It looked bad and the first time I saw her I thought she had had a nasty fall or something. She will be turning three soon and I often wonder if it’s gotten any larger or has started to go down.
March 21st, 2007 at 12:38 am
My middle child has a hemangioma on his left butt cheek. It ulcered so badly because of the location, that we had to start him on steroids at 3 weeks old to stop the growth and he had a pulse dye laser treatment at 8 weeks to heal the ulcers. They just were not going away on their own. The ulcers finally stopped completely by about 6 months.
Bathing and diapering were a long process. Because it was such sensitive skin, we couldn’t use any soap on it. This meant sponge baths for the first 6 months using mineral oil on his butt and baby wash on the rest of his body. We cold only use Huggies because his skin reacted to everything else. Baby wipes were out. Instead I bought soft disposable cloths online which we just wetted with warm water. After cleaning the hemangioma, we covered it with a layer of Neosporin, followed by a layer of cotton gauze then “sealed” off with Vaseline. Luckily I had a great daycare and they never once complained about the process.
He is now three and while you can still see it, it has faded quite a bit. It hasn’t shrunk in diameter, but it is not puffy and strawberry red like it used to be. He will have a slight scar from the laser treatment but I don’t regret having it done. We had run out of options to try to heal the ulcers. Our doctor also said that if we wanted, we could have a second treatment to remove the rest of the redness (which in my opinion is what Suri had done to her forehead) but since it’s on his butt, no one is going to see if it is red or not! His doc feels that he is right on track to have the redness completely gone with age.
March 21st, 2007 at 2:37 am
My daughter had a hemangioma (”strawberry birthmark”) on her forehead when she was born; it was on the left side about halfway between her hairline and her eyebrow. It was raised and looked like a strawberry that had been cut in half and was about half the size of Anna’s. It progressed just as her pediatrician predicted: It moved upward as her head grew until it was at her hairline (people CONSTANTLY asked me if she fell, like I had dropped her on her head – ARGH!) It started to turn paler until it became light grey and continued to fade until it was completely gone by the time she was a little over two years old. She had tons of dark hair that covered it most of the time. It never bothered or worried me, well, except when people asked me about it with distrust in their eyes. People can be so rude and jump to so many conclusions when they are ignorant about something.
March 21st, 2007 at 4:58 am
I had one myself as a baby, but I had Multiple Hemangioma which was more serious. I had a large one on my cheek, back, ear etc. Multiple is when it can develop to obstruct vital organs. I’m now left with a scar on my cheek and back which will never fully go.
March 21st, 2007 at 6:19 am
My daughter has a hemangioma on her head, right past the beginning of her hairline. It is about the size of a dime now and her hair covers it, but when she was a baby people always asked if she fell and hurt herself. The biggest it got was about quarter size and very poofy.
It is something a lot of people don’t know about. It was hard having to explain it so much but I am just glad it’s in a place where it is hidden now and is starting to disappear.
March 21st, 2007 at 6:36 am
I had a hemangioma on the back side of my right hand. I had to eventually have it removed at the age of 11. Being right-handed, banging my hand would make it swell to the size of a golf ball. Not a pretty sight. It’s gone and I’m fine now. The scar is actually unique looking – almost like a bite mark.
March 21st, 2007 at 6:39 am
My nice, who is 15 now, had one exactly between her eyes – it looked like the spot Indian women have between their eyes. The colour was gone when she was about 5, but if you have a closer look you can still see that the tissue still is of different consistency there and still is raised – but pale. The size is much, much smaller than that of Karen Mulder´s baby-daughter and my niece never had problems with it. We always gave her the feeling that her spot made her special and she is a radiant teen now.
March 21st, 2007 at 6:57 am
My son has a strawberry mark right on the back of his head, and he was neither premature or a twin. His is about the size of a nickel. He also has a small one on his side. My son is 7 1/2 months old now.
March 21st, 2007 at 7:40 am
My daughter had a poofy, reddish-purple one on the side of her head. It wasn’t very noticable once she was about two and had hair to cover it. By the time she was five it was just a faint splotch.
March 21st, 2007 at 8:28 am
My daughter has a “strawberry” on her left wrist. When she was born I told her doctor I thought she has a bruise. It got very red and quite puffy. She is 20 months old now and it is considerably less red and getting smaller. Her doctor says it will be gone by the time she is 4.
March 21st, 2007 at 8:37 am
My daughter has one in a very similar spot. She is almost 3 now and it has faded a little with time (more so in the last 6 months). It doesn’t obstruct her vision and so it will be left to its own devices. The doctors are confident that it will disappear on its own by the time she starts school.
These are becoming more common but are, for the most part, realtively harmless and temporary. They don’t hurt unless placed badly. The worst/funniest part is the way otehr kids react to it – they always ask how she hurt herself. My daughter just calls it a beautymark.
March 21st, 2007 at 9:53 am
My daughter was born with a large strawberry hemangioma on her face (right cheek) and oddly enough it formed the shape of a C! It was very light when she was born (started growing in utero) and within a couple months of her life it became bright fiery red. It also went into her eye a little (eye lid). We have seen a series of vascular birthmark specialists and opthamalogists (sp?) in the past 19 months of her life to ensure it wouldn’t affect her vision and just to monitor it. They have all said it will be gone by the time she is 4-5 years old. The good news is the birthmark has surprised everyone and already at 19 months has lightened up to the point that you can hardly even see it on her face. They are the strangest things and there is no known cause for them!
March 21st, 2007 at 10:05 am
Yes my 2 year old daughter was born with hemangioma on her right side of her hair line. It grew rapidly, and through the advice of a friend whose son had it told us about this wonderful doctor in Buffalo ny.(We are from Ontario Canada) And said that if we had it laser before 6 weeks the grow will stop and by less than a year the hemangioma will be gone. And after a year of getting it lasered my daughter’s hemangioma is completely gone. My huge fear was it getting nicked and bleeding. And I did not want my child going through her school years with a huge lump on her head. I am so so very glad that we had this done and can not express my gratitude enough to the wonderful doctor in Buffalo NY.
March 21st, 2007 at 10:40 am
My 18 month old son had one on his left eyelid… it was the size of a pea, and was rather red at times…. he went to countless eye doctors, and specialists because we did not want it to interfere with his vision, but they too were all confident that he would grow out of it. Sure enough, now… you cant even tell he had it. I think the worst part was all of the comments…. no his brother did NOT hit him… no we did not scratch his eye, and NO he was not dropped! GRR.
March 21st, 2007 at 1:36 pm
My cousin had one in the exact same place, she’s 8 now and its completely gone.
March 21st, 2007 at 2:20 pm
My daughter, who was born 5 weeks early, has a strawberry one on her head. It was just a red mark when she was born, but now she is 4.5 months old and it’s raised, squisy, and bigger. Her doctor said it will probably have to be removed since brushing her hair could cause it to bleed. We never hid it or anything and we’ve had very few questions or comments about it.
March 21st, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Princess Leonor of Spain has one on her nose, and it’s slowly going away from her last pictures that I’ve seen of her.
March 21st, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Sarah I can understand what you went through, with peoples questions and accusations. Everytime someone sees the back of my sons head they are shocked. I have had many questions that start out “What happened to his head” It is so frustrating. It was not to bad during the winter (he was born in aug of 06) because he had a hat on usually when we went out. But now that its starting to get warmer, the stares are back. His is squishy like to and I am so scared its going to get nicked. I am hoping it starts fading soon, only because I am so scared of making it bleed. The one on his side is the size of a small pea, and not as prominent as the one on the back of his head.
March 21st, 2007 at 2:34 pm
my 18 month old son developed one when he was about 6 weeks old on the top of his head.. i could feel something up there and at his 8 week appointment asked the doctor and that was when he told me it was a hemangioma.. at that time is was the size of a dime.. by the time he was a year old it was the size of a silver dollar.. and raised off of his head quite a bit and was bright red and squishy… and at 18 months you cannot even see it.. it is completely gone and when i brushed his hair it never broke open and never bleed…
March 21st, 2007 at 3:51 pm
I had a strawberry hemangioma in the right corner of my mouth from birth till about 4 1/2 yrs of age. It was the size of a nickel and was raised,bumpy, and bright red. I don’t remeber it much, but my mother said children would often ask what was wrong with my face and other parents would constantly ask her questions. It began to fade when I started school and was gone within a few months. For a few years it looked like I had a dirt or chocolate smudge in the corner of my mouth. But by the time I was in 4th grade there was no sign of it at all.
I am 23 now and have a 2 yr old daughter of my own. she was born 8 weeks early and she has one on her lower back, but I am confident hers will fade with time as well.
March 21st, 2007 at 5:02 pm
My cousin was born premature and she had one on her arm and it got quite big.
I know another little girl that was premature born about a few months after my cousin and she had on on the top of her forehead…but unfortunately for hers it got punctured.
I also knew 2 little girls who had them largely on their necks. By the time they were 3 they were less noticable and I haven’t seen them since so I don’t know what they look like now.
My cousin is 18 now so hers is completely gone. When I was a child I was curious about it and always wondered if it was something we all had and asked my mom where mine was lol. But she explained to me that we all have different marks at birth and some children’s “beauty” marks (as she called them) are just more visible.
March 21st, 2007 at 6:00 pm
My friend’s daughter was born with a hemangioma on the top of her head, but now, at 2 years and 4 months, is almost nothing….you have to search trough her hair to see it and it’s a little pink mark now.
Me and three more female cousins of mine were born with a port wine stain on the back of our necks. It’s almost invisible now, but I really think if I have a daughter someday she will have one…
anyways, Anna is such a cutie! She looks like her mom!
March 21st, 2007 at 6:29 pm
I babysat twin girls who were both born a tad early and they both had theirs on their belly’s kind of below their ribs. I haven’t babysat them in a long time, they are now around 2 years+.
March 21st, 2007 at 7:08 pm
My son, 13 months, has 2 strawberry hemangiomas. One on his lower back and another on his head above his temple. He had no hair last summer and people constantly asked about it, often saying things like “What’s wrong with the baby?” I don’t mind when children ask because they don’t know better, but I get annoyed when adults ask. I can’t imagine how parents must feel who have children with a physical disability larger than a hemangioma and I never stare now!
March 22nd, 2007 at 12:19 am
Our 3 1/2 year old daughter was born with a “smudge”on her upper lip. It grew to the size of a golf ball. A hemangioma. Dr. Milton Waner has removed it over the course of two surgeries. She can now speak clearly and kids don’t tease her anymore.
March 22nd, 2007 at 8:47 am
My full term daughter had a hemangioma on the middle of her back. It started getting bigger and more raised when she was about 6 months…then by the time she was a year old, it was almost gone. She’s almost 21 months now and I can’t even see where it used to be. So, the doctor was right in our case…”it will probably go away by the time she’s 5″…and it sure did!
March 23rd, 2007 at 7:39 pm
I was born with a hemangioma and let me tell you they do not all go away. I have had to have 3 surgeries to remove mine. It was located on my upper lip. I had surgeries at 5, 8 & 16 and still have a scar. I hate to see any children with them because it reminds me of my childhood. Its not fun to be born with one.
March 25th, 2007 at 7:02 am
my daughter was born 11 weeks early because of placenta previa and was extremly premature and she had one on her leg above her knee .It grew in size from a speck to about a apple seed size by the time she was one and was blood red and raised but then it deepened to a ruby color and began to slowly fade and become small until she was about 2 and half then she finally began speaking which she had never cried or spoken ,she even had developed her own sign language and within a week was speaking her 1st word was speaking whole sentences .As a result i was so in awe of speaking with her and hearing new words every few hours that i totally didnt even notice when her spot disappeared! Her 4th birthday is in 4 days and she is completely normal if not extreamly smart i will never know why she refused to talk or cry as a infant even while in NICU but i remember obsessing over that tiny mark for monthes because everything worried about my miracle baby that i named Miracle btw =))
July 7th, 2007 at 8:40 am
Are you sure it is karen Mulder’s baby?Where is the father?I was also photographed with a child in this way but it aws not mine.
Why in these photos (http://celebritynation.blogspot.com/2006/06/small-picture-post_03.htmlpregnant Karen Mulder) has she no navel on her belly? Why is she wearing a scarf even the weather seem to be warm?Last time I saw such a thing, the woman was hidden marks on her neck!Why seems the man with her so agressive?
Are those photos the ones of an happy mother with her family?http://www.posh24.se/karen_mulder/karen_mulder_oigenkannlig
I talked several times with women working in the fashion world, they did all say the same to me:they do rape us , force us to be with men we do not want, they use GHB the “rape drug” ,the medically recognized effect of this drug is hypnose ,exactely what she tried to say to the french television… I am afraid for Karen Mulder, she risked her life to warn young girls to not trust modelling agencies I am sure she was threatened .Has police medias of today no HONOR?For sure!The last the citizen can do is to try to know the thruth about Karen Mulder,French are pure cowards it’s a proven fact.
August 1st, 2008 at 3:33 pm
It felt good to read and see that other people daughters has had a hemangioma. I started to get nervous and worry that she can not live a normal life. But your comments proved me wrong, and comforted my soul.